An Ordinary School Year (Feel the Sarcasm)
by SilencePlease
Summary: Punished for a crime they never did, the seven are forced to 'become what they never were' and something similar for the Death Breath. Meanwhile in Brooklyn House, the Kane siblings are getting a punishment (aka mission) for a crime they did do. To complete that, they have to enroll in a school still in Brooklyn where the eight are 'incidentally' studying in. Rated T to be safe. B
1. Dionysus Becomes a Sparkly Chicken

**Warning: Excessive OOCness of Dionysus and maybe several other characters.**

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns whatever and whoever appears in his books. I own nothing. This was planned _months _ago by two persons. On with it!**

**-0-0-0-**

**Prologue Part I: Dionysus Becomes a Sparkly Chicken**

Two certain sons of Hermes were having a blast! They'd decided to go by the book again, thinking and just plain knowing that nobody would expect them to do that. They set up the same trap everywhere: the traditional bucket of water over a slightly open door, except that they changed the water to slime, glitters, dust, and feathers.

Their guess was right. Practically everyone was falling for it.

Katie had to shower at least a dozen times to get rid of the glitters. Will was making a poor imitation of a slug worm. An Aphrodite kid was screaming her head off, looking like she just raided a poultry farm. A nymph stomped back to her tree, appearing to be quite harassed, leaving a cloud of dust bunnies in her wake.

The best part of their prank? The buckets refilled themselves. All they had to do was put them back into place. That the two did, and they hid behind a bush to await more victims.

That was when everything went downhill.

The Stoll brothers had just 'reinstalled' the buckets after somebody fell for them again, when Mr. D finished his stroll. The wine god arrived at the porch of the Big House at the instant Travis and Connor ducked behind a tree. (Hopefully it wasn't the nymph-from-before's tree.)

They knew they were minced demigod meat if by some miraculous accident a god would fall for such a prank.

Their luck was rotten.

Mr. D casually walked through the door, where they had placed the 'jackpot bucket,' which contained all four of their materials.

Hades's blue, flaming hair in that stupid movie! Travis thought. He looked at Connor and his expression probably mimicked his.

That all happened in less than five seconds, which was the exact time Dionysus's fogged mind needed to process the situation. (Diet Coke's not at all good for your health, but not at all bad when someone who's out to kill you was sort of drunk with it, the brothers concluded.)

Dionysus's eyes glowed with a mad, purplish light.

"Blast him to Hades whoever did this!" he exclaimed. Fortunately (for the brothers), there were no claps of thunder that followed. But still, they knew they were in very deep Laistrygonian giant poop.

"You!" Mr. D exclaimed at a passing person, which turned out to be Percy. He was with his girlfriend. "You did this, didn't you?"

Percy was an expert at being an idiot (even the gods can testify) and he just said the smartest thing he could think of, "A sparkly chicken? Cool."

Needless to say, that made the god quite angrier than before. But before he could curse them from Hades to Tartarus, Annabeth (heavens bless her, the Stoll brothers thought) quickly tried to calm the infuriated god.

"We're so sorry, Mr. D," she started to say in a rather soothing way, but, in every few seconds, glared celestial bronze daggers at her boyfriend. "You know how this seaweed brain is, and he's just so bright. He did not do this, though, and neither did I."

"Lies!" Mr. D exclaimed as vines started to erupt from the ground. "Nothing but lies!"

"W-We're telling the truth, uh, Mr. D!" Percy exclaimed, apparently trying to make up for what he did. It did not work, which was obvious from the way the god was glaring at them now.

The vines were starting to snake around their ankles when a yelp sounded from somewhere. It was Leo, the Hephaestus kid who became senior counselor not a year ago.

"What's up with these plants?" they heard him exclaim. "Me and psychotic organic life forms! Just figured they would love me!"

And just like that, the wine god's fury turned to him.

"Did you say psychotic life forms, boy?" Mr. D laced every syllable with madness, which was his specialty. "Do you not know that every living thing has a purpose in this world? And you are calling my precious vines psychotic? True, they bring madness, but really? Madness?"

To say the least, the Creak and Squeak speaker was rooted in his place with fear.

Then, just to make matters worse in the Stoll brothers' opinion, more characters appeared in the scene: Piper and Jason.

"Leo!" she gasped. She ran to her friend and shook him slightly, which managed to wake him up.

"You," Mr. D growled. (The Stoll brothers thought that 'you' was fast becoming the wine god's word of the day.)

Piper gulped. "Um, yes, Mr. D? What can I do for you?"

Mr. D looked enraged once again. "Charmspeaking a god! Lunacy!" he bellowed. "Perhaps you're one of the criminals!"

"With all due respect, sir," Jason started to say, "I can testify that she had no part in this… crime—what's the crime, anyway?"

"The Rise of the Starry Chicken—"

Annabeth elbowed Percy in the ribs, and mouthed at him, "By my mother's sunglasses, shut up!"

"Aha!" Mr. D exclaimed. "You—John Green, was it?—are an accomplice aren't you? Wouldn't have expected it from a half-brother, but of course, it makes perfect sense. Perhaps all seven of you have planned this. Let's see…"

Mr. D enumerated the seven demigods who were involved in the prophecy.

"So that Hannah Leroy and Frederick Zapper are left?" he said.

"It's Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang," somebody muttered.

They looked at where the voice came from and there, under the shade of a tree, stood Nico di Angelo.

Mr. D's eyes squinted malignantly. "Of course, it would make sense that you would be involved too, Norman."

"Involved in what, Mr. D?" Nico asked. "And my name is Nico."

"Whatever you say, Nestor." Mr. D shrugged. "Now, that Hilda and Fayir, where are they?"

As if on cue, they heard the hooves of a horse sauntering its way towards somewhere. The Stoll brothers hoped that whoever were riding the horse were not the two demigods in question and were not going to pass by the Big House.

They had no such luck. Hazel and Frank arrived on the scene.

Hazel's head leaned on one side, confused of the big gathering in front of the Big House. Frank, who was dismounting from the horse groggily, did not seem to notice anything. The horse, which the Stolls had learned was named Arion, did certain horse sounds that they didn't quite understand.

"Jeez," Percy complained in his vine prison. (The Stolls noted the splendid variation of 'fine.') "Would you stop cussing every time you speak?"

Arion whinnied again.

"Curse you to Hades too," Percy replied.

Silence reigned for a few seconds.

"Are we watching some sort of drama here?" Frank finally said.

"Ah, yes," Mr. D said, "a drama. I believe you are one of the main characters. You are an accomplice, as is Helena here!"

"An accomplice to what?" Frank asked.

"Who's Helena?" Hazel said at the same time.

"You," Nico replied to his sister. He then addressed Mr. D and said, "This is all a big misunderstanding, Sir. We don't even know what we did wrong."

"Except that you look like you've bathed in that 'A Bath for Stars' those Hecate kids made me swim in once," Leo muttered. "It was horrible."

Piper raised a brow at him. "You had to mention that."

"Oops," Leo mouthed.

"Oldest trick in the book!" Mr. D exclaimed all of a sudden. "Claiming to be innocent!" He smiled quite evilly. "Let me show you what a real punishment is."

**-0-0-0-**

Travis and Connor Stoll didn't need to be geniuses to figure out that they shouldn't ever shed light on the incident. It wasn't fun at all that it was a god that fell for their supposed-to-be-really-awesome prank. It didn't help that the accused ones were probably the strongest demigods around. They'd much rather be alive, thank you very much.

The worst part was the punishment Mr. D gave the seven plus the Death Boy. The brothers could not even imagine themselves forced to become—no, the experience would be too traumatic.

May Tyche be in your favor, they thought sullenly.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

**-0-0-0-**

None of the eight had the slightest idea how hard their punishment would be—which was saying something. After all, their usual punishments went by the likes of brushing the teeth of fire-breathing dragons (biological and mechanical alike), shining the hooves of a rather jumpy Pegasus, plucking the nose hair of 'tamed' hellhounds (why they even did it, they didn't know), swimming in a pool of lava half-naked, and many other things that were considered much too grotesque to even be mentioned. No, Dionysus's punishment was far more outrageous.

They had to become what they never were.

Or in a certain someone's case, what he once was.

**-0-0-0-**

**What did I say about OOCness? **

**Anyway, updates will be **_irregular_**. You've been warned.**

**Important thing:**

**This story was written after making several assumptions. They are the following: **

**The 'demigods-gods alliance' won the war against Gaea; ****all of the seven plus Nico and the Stolls survived the war and did not die nor receive any permanent disabilities; ****Son of Sobek never happened, though I guess I'll be taking liberty with their ages with Carter being a year younger than Percy (but their ages hardly matter because I'm also taking liberty with the assignment of their to classes);** **the demigods are allowed in Brooklyn (they're pretty much found everywhere, anyway); ****The eight (I'm pretty sure you know to whom I'm referring by now) did not have any drastic personality change (though that won't matter much until _much_ later in the story); and the last thing, ****the educational system I'm using is actually correct. (I'm not from America, so sorry.)**

**That's pretty much everything. I'll fill you in later if I remember anything else. Thanks. :)**

**Coming next: Prologue Part II: I Officially Hate Recordings**

~Bianca


	2. I Officially Hate Recordings

**Warning: In our opinion, the Egyptians are pretty serious (at least compared to the Greeks, or even to the Romans) so expect the 'serious aura' thing. Pretty much no comedic scenes, which sucks. This one's also shorter than Part I. And I don't want to forget everyone's OOCness. Forgive me. BTW, PLEASE CHECK OUT PROLOGUE PART I BECAUSE I ADDED A LINE RIGHT IN THE END. Thought you might want to know.**

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan is awesome. He owns his books.**

**-0-0-0-**

**Prologue Part II: I Officially Hate Recordings**

Hey, Cleo here.

I know, I know. It's supposed to be Carter or Sadie, but they're not in the best of moods so I'm doing the job. Mind, it sucks.

Anyway, I'm supposed to tell you about something that happened earlier this day when Sadie Kane lost in an argument. Big shocker! A miracle! Yes, yes, but don't get me started on the great clay fight. [No, don't add an 'o,' Khufu. It's really clay, not my name.] Ah, but that's not part of the story I'm about to tell you, sorry.

-0-0-0-

I was just reading my trusty scrolls and books in the library when the doors slammed open. When I turned, I saw Amos barging in, followed by his nephew, niece, Walt, and lastly Zia. All of them had scrunched-up brows.

Out of habit, I stood up. When those people are together, it's usually a private meeting, so no outsiders allowed, even the librarian.

But before I could take even one step, Sadie said, "Why not, Amos? It's going to be fine."

Amos shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "It's not going to be fine as you're saying. Look at what happened."

I knew what he meant: another 'gas explosion' had erupted, as the mortals saw it.

"But it's not our fault," Carter reasoned. "There was just the _tjesu-heru_ and we couldn't—"

"Dispose of it as quickly as you could have," Amos cut him off, "if you were not distracted."

"We could always use their help," Sadie said. "Walt and Zia are really good magicians."

Amos shook his head again. "Just you and Carter attract enough trouble already. There's no need for more."

"They're not bad luck," Carter said.

"No," Amos agreed. "But four transferees at once… It would be suspicious. That might alert the source of the strange magic, and it would be dangerous. We don't know whether they're friendly or not."

My ears perked at that one. Strange magic? I've read a line from a book about that somewhere…

"Why send us?" Sadie complained. "I'm aware there are other well-trained magicians out there, so why us?"

Amos sighed as if they went through this already. Then he said, "We've been through this, Sadie. The strange magic was detected from a school. You're around the age—"

"They're around the same age as us," Sadie said.

"They're still not used to the school life," Amos answered.

"As if my brother is," Sadie said back. "Walt grew up in it. He'll do a better job."

"Kin transferring together is not unusual," Amos reasoned. "But you and Walt…"

"But it's true," Carter said. "Walt would do a better job. Plus Anubis—"

"Stop arguing with me," Amos said with a tone of finality. "Even Walt and Zia are not complaining."

I looked at the two mentioned and realized that they really hadn't spoken from the moment they entered the library. I also realized the scheme the siblings were trying to put into action: Sadie and Walt would go to this school, while Carter and Zia would be left here. It made perfect sense. Sadie would want Walt with her. Zia could not go. Carter won't want to go either if that was the case. It was a good bargain.

Nobody said anything. After a while, Amos left the room.

"That's it?" Sadie said.

"Guess so," Carter replied.

"We're really going to this school this coming year? Just the two of us?" Sadie asked.

"Don't make it sound like you're the only one who doesn't like this," Carter said.

[See? This job sucks. Yada said. Yodo said. Yada said. Psh. Anyway, don't listen to me. I mean—oh, I'll just get on with the story.]

Nobody spoke for a while.

"So," Walt said at last, "where is this school?"

Sadie answered gloomily, "Still in Brooklyn."

"So why are you complaining?" I muttered. Just my luck; Sadie heard me.

"Just so," she said, then she stormed out of the library.

Walt looked at me like he was saying sorry in her stead and followed her out. Seriously, the guy's too nice. Sometimes I'd think he's too good for Sadie [Shh, don't tell Sadie I said that], and then she would do something that would make me eat my words.

Carter interrupted my thoughts when he banged his head on my table.

"Stupid," I heard him mutter.

"Me?" I asked.

Carter looked at me with half-lidded eyes, like he'd fall asleep by any minute then. "Sister," he mumbled.

"Oh," I so smartly replied.

Carter groaned a bit. "The school's for special people," he said. "Well, special in a sense that they cause trouble." After a while, he added, "Guess we'd actually fit in there."

Zia sighed. "We're sorry, Cleo," she said, "for barging in and all that." Then she turned to her boyfriend. "Come on, Mr. Sunshine. There's no use for moping around." She turned towards the door.

Carter unplanted his face from the table and followed her out.

Well, I thought as I picked up another book. Just another day in Brooklyn House.

[Khufu says _Agh!_ which is just his way of saying he's craving for Oreos. Silly baboon for breaking the mood.]

[And this is Cleo from Rio, signing off.]

**-0-0-0-**

**Hmm, what did I say about a serious aura?**

**Anyway, the real deal comes next!**

**Coming next: **Chapter I: Someone Fears a Can of Diet Coke


	3. Someone Fears a Can of Diet Coke

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns all characters in his books, but I'm having a rather good time messing with most (if not all) of them. Forgive me. **

**Warning: Expect exaggerated OOCness from the Greek and Roman side. Maybe in the Egyptian side, too, since I'm not so good with them. This chapter's not my best work either. Hmm, whatever. I'll be very thankful if you read on and maybe drop a review. Annnnd, this chapter is very long compared to the other chapters. Now on with the story~**

**-0-0-0-**

**Chapter I: Someone Fears a Can of Diet Coke**

Outside the gates of their new school, Carter squirmed in his sneakers, which felt a bit warm from their long walk to school. Beside him, Sadie popped her gum. She was clad in a green tank top to complement her green highlights, white pants, and the usual combat boots.

"Well," his sister said. "Let's get over this already!"

"Wait," Carter said. "Promise me one thing first." He cleared his throat. "Behave."

Sadie raised her brow at him as if saying _Seriously? You expect _me_ to do such a no-risk thing? _

She popped her gum again, seemed to sigh, then said, "Sure thing, brother dear. I'll _behave_." She smiled.

Carter narrowed his eyes at the disturbingly innocent smile on his sister's face.

"Never mind," he said at last. "I'm not keeping my hopes up with that promise."

The smile didn't even leave her face. "You hurt my feelings, brother dear."

Carter shook his head. "That's too fake, Sadie, too fake."

The sound of gum bursting was heard. Sadie rolled her eyes.

"Exactly, Captain Obvious." She stretched. "Now, can't we proceed to this very _pleasant_ concentration camp crazy people call school?"

Carter bowed mockingly and gestured a hand to the entrance.

"Ladies first." He smirked.

-0-0-0-

Carter and Sadie Kane finally entered the school premises and made their way to the principal's office with the help of handy arrows.

Carter thought they were nearing the office (the last arrow they'd passed by read _Principal's Office 10 meters ahead_), when a tall, white-haired old man motioned them to stop. The man was wearing a gray tweed jacket over a crisp white shirt, but the vivid neon green of his tie set his business air off. It made Carter feel like he was facing a fun-loving, young-on-the-inside senior citizen.

"Are you the Kanes?" he asked, his small, but friendly eyes looking at them from hair to shoes—boots, in Sadie's case.

"Um, yes, Sir," Carter replied, not really sure what to make of it. "I am Carter Kane. This is my sister, Sadie."

The man smiled kindly. "Well, you look nothing alike though," he said. "Anyway, I am your principal from now on. I would have loved to tour you around myself, but I'm afraid my arthritis is taking its hold on me. But do not worry. I've arranged the student council president to be your student guide. Ask him anything because he's obliged to answer and he's very friendly, if I must say the obvious. He should be here shortly and... I wish you'd enjoy your schooling here."

After giving them another of his grandfatherly smile, Mr. Principal turned around and disappeared into a door labeled _Principal's Office_.

Carter blinked.

"He's a nice person," he finally said.

"Like a grandfather who reads his grandchildren bedtime stories," his sister agreed.

"Yeah... So anyway," Carter said as he scratched his head, "how are we supposed to know this student council president who's going to be our student guide?"

"Oh, I don't know," Sadie mused. "Unless he's skinny, wears some kind of goggles or eye glasses, looks overdosed on caffeine, and holds a Rubik's cube in one hand and a wrench in the other, I've no idea." Her gaze locked onto something—or someone—behind him, which Carter took as a hint to turn around.

When he did, a guy his sister just described came into view. Apparently, she skipped the part that said he looked like an elf that got out of an asylum for lunatics, judging from that big, lopsided grin on his face. The said guy was waving at them cheerily while Carter thought it was a bit dangerous to swing around a rather wicked-looking wrench.

He's real friendly, all right, Carter thought.

"Hey, guys!" the guy exclaimed. "Are you the Kane siblings?"

The said siblings looked at each other and telepathically agreed to humor the guy.

"Yeah, we are," Sadie confirmed. "We don't really look like siblings though, do we?"

The grin never left the newcomer's face as he shrugged. "You never know nowadays who are brothers with whom," he said. "For all I know I have a really muscular guy as a brother out there." If it was even possible, his grin widened. "I'm Leo. You can call me bro, though."

"No thanks," Sadie quickly replied. She turned to her brother and looked at him with a stare that said _Your turn_.

"Well," Carter started to say, "I'm Carter. This is my sister, Sadie. And we were just—Horus's shorts! The Rubik's cube…"

Carter discovered he was splendid at doing an imitation of a carp. Sadie just stared at him, but Leo looked more pleased than anything.

"I know I'm awesome, thanks," Leo said. "But what in Ha—err, what is Horus, anyway? Is that some sort of food?" He twirled the finished cube in his hand. The wrench was nowhere in sight.

A flustered Carter hastily made an explanation that Julius, their father, was especially fond of Ancient Egypt civilization and they just picked those up from him. Sadie just nodded encouragingly.

-0-0-0-

Carter was closing his locker when he heard Leo say, "Basically, people from the same class get the same classes, except for your electives, of course." He cleared his throat. "Meaning you'd get tired of the faces eventually."

"That's handy," Sadie offhandedly said. "So where are our classes?"

Leo dug out from his pockets two sheets of paper and gave one to each sibling.

"Your schedules," Leo explained. "Carter and I are in the same class. And you, Sadie…" He trailed off as he drummed his fingers on a random locker.

"AH!" he exclaimed suddenly, which earned him a glare from Sadie. "There's Hazel."

The Kanes turned around to see who he was talking about. It was a girl around Sadie's age with dark skin and curly golden-brown hair.

"I'll hand you over to her. Wait here," Leo told Sadie.

When Leo was out of earshot, Sadie complained, "Hand me over to her?" She rolled her eyes. "What does he think I am? A Rubik's cube?"

Carter scoffed. "More like a—"

"A what?" Sadie glared. "Dare to continue that and I'm seriously going to tell _Zia_ about thatshabti you ordered to get her—"

"Nothing!" Carter quickly cut off. "And at least we know somebody now."

"What a subtle change of topic," Sadie noted with a smirk. "And sadly, it's someone who's so fidgety and annoying."

Sadie could not say more because Leo had already arrived with the girl named Hazel.

Now that he had a closer look, Carter could see that she had golden eyes, which reminded him of Horus's eye. The fact almost scared him. He also noticed that Hazel was a bit stern-looking, but also considered pretty (not as much as Zia, though, in his _humble_ opinion).

"Hazel," Leo told the siblings. Then to Hazel, he said, "Carter and Sadie. Umm, Sadie's in your class. Can she go with you?"

Hazel appeared annoyed at Leo and even more annoyed as she inspected Sadie like she was examining poultry.

Then she said, "Sure, Leo. But that's another one on your list."

Carter and Sadie looked at each other meaningfully. It was decided: neither was going to ask a favor from this girl.

"Er, right," Leo said, flustered. "Let's talk about that later, 'kay?" He turned to Sadie. "Sadie, _please_ go with Hazel. Take care!"

Carter was then unceremoniously pushed towards one corridor while Sadie was led to another. Before they could disappear from each other's sight, the siblings mentally agreed to meet at lunch.

When Leo finally stopped pushing and finally let him walk in his own pace, Carter asked, "Why the hurry?"

"Hazel scares me," Leo replied. He swallowed with great difficulty and rattled off, "She wants easy money, you know. If she ever offers you a _freebie_, decline right away. Remember the saying 'Beware the gifts of the—' Mm, well, it's a bit off, but you get the point, do you? Speaking of points, have you ever played Mythomagic? Man, in terms of attack points, my father only has—ah, err, there's our room over there!"

Carter stared at him oddly for his constant change of topic from Hazel to "Beware the gifts of the Greeks" to points and to that Mythomagic thing in a matter of seconds.

Oh well, he thought, Scatterbrain Leo for president.

Their room was already crowded with students when they arrived. Girls were sharing gossips (if the hushed voices were any indicator) and the guys were talking about a recent basketball game.

Khufu might like these guys, he thought as he took his seat. Leo apparently had some sort of power over the students because of his position, so instead of getting placed beside a guy named Frank, he was sitting next to his new friend.

"I believe you haven't done anything to deserve a seatmate like Frank," Leo had told him in a rather serious tone. "Well, at least not yet." He grinned evilly.

Carter raised a brow. "What was that supposed to mean?"

Leo pretended to be surprised. "Just by looking at your sister, I could tell she's a troublemaker. And now that there are two of us…" He cackled like a cartoon villain. "This school better watch out. And by the way, is she dating anyone?"

Carter half-stared half-glared at him. "Yeah, she is. And for your own good, you won't make a move on her—unless you want to get mummified alive."

"Is that another Egyptian joke?" Leo laughed, though a bit nervously. "Like Horus's shorts?"

"No," Carter replied, shaking his head. "It's the real thing. Her boyfriend would be _pleased _to wrap you in tissue paper painfully."

This time Leo laughed generously. "You have a nasty sense of humor, Carter."

Carter could only smirk.

If only he knew, he thought. Sadie's boyfriend was part god of funerals.

-0-0-0-

Carter's classes started normally and he was rather enjoying them. But Leo kept distracting him. On one occasion, Leo disassembled his Rubik's cube and made some sort of action figure that one could actually move. Another time, Leo pulled out from his pack a screwdriver, a roll of masking tape, and a couple of pipes, and proceeded to make some sort of steam boat that actually worked. Carter figured it was normal since nobody reacted.

The bell for lunch finally rang. They met with Sadie, grabbed some food, and settled under Leo's tree, as Leo persisted they call it. Most of the students also ate under the shades of the other trees in the quadrangle.

"Since you guys are new," Leo said as he dug out a lighter from his pack, "are you curious about anything in particular?"

Sadie munched on a cookie. "Let's see," she muttered. "How about telling us who everybody is? Just a little bit of info maybe."

Carter gasped dramatically. "Who are you?" He pointed an accusing glare at Sadie. "And what did you do to my sister?"

Sadie just rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Carter," she drawled. "Unless you want me to ha-di you to the deepest part of the Duat. Try me."

Leo could only blink at their exchange as he burned a part of his meal. "Heidi? Do what?" he wondered aloud. "Egyptian thing again?"

"Yeah," Carter instantly replied. He'd rather not get ha-di-ed by his sister. "So why did you just burn your food?"

Leo looked at his hands, one of which was holding his remaining food while the other held the lighter. He put the lighter back into his pack.

"Habit," he said. "I do that for almost every meal."

"That's just wasting food," Sadie said.

"No, it isn't!" Leo insisted. "It's an offering for my father!" As soon as he said it, Leo's eyes widened like he realized he said something he shouldn't have, and he clamped both hands over his mouth.

"Offering?" the Kane siblings chorused.

"For your father?" Sadie continued. "Why would you burn a part of your food for your father?"

Leo was visibly sweating bullets. "Umm, I..," he stuttered. "I-I like to think that my father is a god! Yeah! Exactly!" He was back beaming like a mad man.

"But we don't even offer anything to _our_ father," Sadie mumbled.

"To _your_ father?" Leo sounded genuinely curious.

"Sadie!" Carter reprimanded.

"Yes, Leo," Sadie said mock-seriously. "Our father is a god too."

Leo chuckled at her 'joke' as she winked at her brother's direction. Carter resisted the urge to face-palm and instead sighed tiredly.

Sadie, with a triumphant smirk on her face, continued, "Would the great Leo start with his awesome introductions?"

"Sure!" Leo cleared his throat dramatically.

"Let's start with the most popular!" he said cheerfully. "And that's me, unsurprisingly! Ouch! Right, right…" He rubbed his head where Sadie hit him then continued, "So kidding aside, the most popular guy is that guy over there! The tallest one, green-eyed, black-haired—sorry, they all have black hair over there."

Carter and Sadie followed Leo's gaze to the next tree where three black-haired guys were eating their lunch. The tallest, who was sitting in the middle, was talking animatedly to the others.

"That's Peter Johnson," Leo continued, then chuckled. The siblings could only wonder why. "Ahem, anyway," Leo went on, "that's just someone's nickname for him. He's actually named Percy. That Asian, chubby guy with a buzz cut is Frank. And the shortest one is—"

"Nico," Sadie said tiredly. "He's in my class. And somehow we became friends."

"You became _friends_ with him, lady?" Leo snickered.

"Shut up, Leo," Sadie answered back. "He's a bit of a brat, annoying, childish…and yeah, a brat."

"Like you," her brother added.

"I'm not!"

"Yes, you are."

"Am not!"

"You are."

"Am not!" Sadie yelled. "I'm—Oh, bloody hell—"

"Whoa! Calm down, Awe Bloody Hell," Leo cut off. Sadie could only glare at him. "And yeah, that's Nico. He's Percy's younger brother. So as I've said, Percy's the most popular guy around so lots of girls are after him, like lots of loads. Prime example is," he pointed at a girl with blonde curls like those of a princess in a fairytale, "that blonde chick walking over to Percy."

The Kanes regarded the girl with some sort of interest. Carter thought she looked familiar.

"Who is she?" Sadie wondered aloud. "She's actually pretty."

"Jealous?" Carter teased.

"Shut up, brother." Sadie glared at him then turned again to their guide. "So her name is…"

"Annabeth," Leo provided. "Annie if you like short names. She's sort of the most popular girl in the campus. And maybe because of some unwritten rules, she's infatuated with the thought of getting Percy to be her boyfriend. So when lunch comes, she does this…"

Since she was just a couple or three meters away, they could clearly hear what she was saying.

"Percy," she called out cutely, "why don't you go over to my tree and eat with me? I mean, I made you something and it would be great if—"

"I'm sorry, Annabeth," Percy cut her off.

"Whoa!" Leo whisper-shouted to the siblings. "This is the first time he cut her off! Usually, he just ignores her and he'd—"

"Shush!"

"You see," Percy trailed off. He was looking away like he was feeling awkward with the talk. "I already have a girlfriend."

Everybody in the court appeared to have been listening in on the conversation because everyone did a double take. Hushed talks and whispers started to erupt. There were some, though, who had no shame and exclaimed loudly enough for the entire world to hear.

"WHAT? HE'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND? OH MY GOD! WE NEED TO WRITE AN ARTICLE LIKE RIGHT NOW!"

"GOSH! WE HAVE TO TWEET THIS LIKE ASAP!"

"THIS IS TERRIBLE! I WAS WISHING I COULD HAVE HIM FOR MYSELF!"

"ME TOO!"

"ME THREE!"

"ME FIVE!"

"…"

"Me four?"

The Kane siblings found every reaction exaggerated.

Everyone's attention went back to Annabeth when she huffed loudly and haughtily.

"Well," Annie said coolly, "I bet your girlfriend's not half as beautiful and smart and amazing as I am, so BREAK UP WITH HER AND BE MINE!"

Beside Carter, Leo turned to the other side, shoulders shaking with laughter, probably. He looked at him with a brow raised, then at Nico and Frank and saw that the latter was suppressing a grin, and that the former was smirking.

Carter also then only noticed the two girls behind Annabeth, one of whom he recognized to be Hazel. The said girl was busy snapping pictures of the exchange, and maybe taping a video too. The other girl he didn't know, though he thought she also looked familiar. Carter could see, though, that she was biting her lip to hold back a smile.

He couldn't help but wonder why.

"Uh," Percy stammered, "I can't really do that now, can I? She'd totally kill—"

"Oh please, Percy!" Annabeth interrupted. "Nobody could love you better than I could! Break up with her, I say, and be happy with me."

Carter rolled his eyes at Annie's antics. Percy didn't seem like a bad guy to him. If Percy's girlfriend was as amazing as his, he wouldn't break up with her either, even if it meant war.

Carter blushed. That was cheesy, he thought.

Back to the scene.

Carter saw Percy roll his eyes and turn to Frank and said something to him. The said guy stood up and went between Percy and Annabeth, all the while cracking his knuckles. Annabeth frowned at him and backed away. She returned to her tree, which Carter found out was just beside Percy's.

"Annie's afraid of Frank," Leo started to explain again. "Actually, everyone is. Frank is sort of Percy's best friend and lackey, fights and does the bloody stuffs for him. He loves violence so much; I won't be surprised if he's a son of the war god." At this, Leo laughed.

Sadie and Carter exchanged looks. It's either Leo was going senile or he really just loved to laugh.

"So, Leo," Sadie disturbed his laughing fit, "if you could stop laughing, care to continue the introductions?"

"Oh right," he nodded as his hands went to work with random objects again. This time, he had a disassembled flashlight and a rubber band. "Where did I stop?"

"Annie and Frank," Sadie supplied.

"Okay. Let's go back to our dear Annie. She's one of those stereotypical dumb giggly blondes. She—ouch! Gods, Sadie, I never said you were one! Stop pinching me! Do you want me to continue or not? If yes, then stop pinching _and_ glaring. Thanks."

Leo cleared his throat and gave Sadie one of his own glares. "As I was saying before this lovely blonde lady kept interrupting me, she's in our class, Carter. Frank and Percy and Piper are, too."

"Who's Piper?" Sadie asked. "Weird name, by the way."

"Like you're one to talk," Carter mumbled. "Maybe Mum and Dad knew you'd be a sadist or something."

"Shut up, Carter!"

"Yeah, yeah," Carter smirked, knowing that he scored. "So you may continue, Mr. Leo."

Leo got the drift and said, "Thank you, Mr. Kane. So this Piper is a member of a group I call 'The Gossip Girls.' There are three of them: Annabeth, Hazel, and Piper. Annabeth's the leader. Hazel's the treasurer. And maybe you can say Piper's the announcer. She just _loves_ attention. It's a miracle that she didn't butt in between Annie and Percy just to get attention. I think she got distracted by Nico. She has this big, _huge_ crush on him."

"What?" Sadie shrieked. "Of all the guys, she likes that Nico? He's not exactly the type... He's childish and so random!"

"He _is_ popular, Sadie dear," Leo said in an old woman's voice. "Besides, poets used to say that Love is blind. You cannot blame her child."**(1)**

"Gods of Egypt," Sadie muttered. "Stop being annoying, Leo! Anyway, continue."

Leo cleared his throat and continued in his normal voice, "The Gossip Girls have a gofer. Well, Piper does. His name's Jason. You don't see him much except with a collar around his neck and Pipes barking orders at him. Haha, that was ironic. Anyway, he's kind of her slave. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's in love with her. Oh, there he is."

Leo jerked his head towards Annie's tree where a blonde guy wearing really thick glasses was talking to Piper. It looked like she was scolding him, waving a tin can in front of his face. Jason was bowing his head in a shamed manner.

"Is she angry at him over a can?" Carter asked, not sure if he was seeing it right. "That's just cruel."

"I hate her already," Sadie said. "The way she treats this Jason, looks like a runaway clown, and has a crush on Nico is too much."

"I don't know why you're so protective of Nico, but talking about Jason," Leo trailed. "Ah! Do you want to know a top-secret secret?"

He leaned closer to the siblings as they did the same thing.

"Did you know that _that_ Jason," Leo said mysteriously, "is Percy's and Nico's cousin?"

Sadie raised a brow. "Doesn't that automatically make him popular or something?"

Carter looked enlightened. "So that's why you said maybe he likes Piper."

Leo nodded. "You're smart, bro. And I have another secret to share." He paused dramatically. "Did you know that my dad is married to Piper's mom who is having an affair with Frank's dad who is angry with Percy who is hated by Annie's mom who is rivals with Percy's dad who is rivals with Nico's dad who is rivals with Jason's dad who is married to this lady who is a kidnapper and is someone whom Annie hates—"

"Whoa, Leo!" Sadie said all of a sudden. "I didn't get anything."

"The last thing I got was that your dad is married to Piper's mom!" Carter added.

Leo grinned widely. "I was just kidding so never mind."

Thunder suddenly rolled from the direction of Manhattan, which managed to distract the siblings.

"Sorry! And oh, by the way," Leo said, "Hazel could have been my great-grandmother!"

Before Carter or Sadie could react, the bell rang, which meant that lunch was over.

"If I asked, you'd just say you were kidding," Carter said.

"Right," Leo confirmed.

"So we better go to our classes," Sadie concluded.

"Right," Leo reconfirmed. "Or we'll be late."

Carter groaned silently because he knew they were not getting any straight answers from the idiot. But looking at Sadie, he knew she was not letting Leo have his way. She was just persistent that way.

-0-0-0-

The three went to their lockers then. Carter and Leo had Literature next, followed by Swimming, while Sadie had History then Biology. She grumbled at that.

"You've been to many museums, Sis," Carter tried to comfort her. "Just imagine you're going through one in a word trip."

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Unlike you, brother dear, I don't enjoy our _trips_ to museums, much less a word trip. Let's meet up near the gates later."

She turned around and disappeared around the corner.

The two also went to their classes. When they arrived, the teacher was already there, instructing the class to do a write-up.

"Mr. Valdez…and Mr. Kane, I presume?" he said with a slight accent that Carter couldn't place.

"Yes, sir," the two answered in chorus.

He smiled at them. "I'm Mr. Polo, new guy. You may take your seats."

Carter took the seat next to Leo's, which was the seat behind Percy's, which was in the second row.

Great, Carter thought. I'm starting to think like Leo now.

Then Mr. Polo announced, "For the write-up, I'd like every one of you to present me a haiku."

In front of them, Percy surprisingly doubled over, sounding like he choked in his saliva.

"Is there anything wrong, Mr. Jackson?" Mr. Polo asked. Carter thought he saw a smirk behind his concerned appearance.

"N-nothing, Mister, uh, Polo," Percy said. After saying it, he almost laughed again but was able to contain it. "Um, sorry… Sir."

Carter was going to ask Leo if he knew why Percy acted like that but decided against it because Leo himself looked disturbed.

He started on his haiku, which later evolved to something describing his girlfriend.

This is embarrassing, Carter said to himself as he thought of keeping the poem for himself rather than passing it.

"Okay, time's up!" Mr. Polo declared. "I believe I've given you enough time already. Pass your papers, children."

As people passed their works one by one, Mr. Polo read some. One of them was Piper's.

_"I loved you before_

_Though just a trick of the Mist_

_I shall love you still"_

Carter thought it was pretty sweet because it reminded him of his own past, when he first had a crush on Zia's _shabti_.

But when he passed his own, Mr. Polo just had to read it. Carter groaned in his seat.

_"Though through an oil bowl_

_She still looks so beautiful_

_How's that possible?"_

Mr. Polo almost laughed at the last line, Carter gloomily thought. And I just had to remember that time when she could only talk to me through that stinky bird bath!

Carter sighed.

The last one to pass was Percy. But judging from the shaking of his shoulders with silent laughter, the way he walked so slowly like he wanted to make it thrilling, and the fact that the teacher actually looked like he wanted to read Percy's haiku so badly, it was only logical to think that he was passing it last on purpose.

So when Mr. Polo read Percy's work, Carter was not surprised (to his own amazement) when he saw the teacher smile as if he just discovered The Haiku of the Millennium.

"I'd say this is one of the best works I've ever come across to," he finally said and recited Percy's haiku.

_"Apollo is cool_

_He has a cool and awesome car_

_He is so awesome"_

Carter's jaw fell involuntarily. No, he wasn't looking down on Percy for making such a poem, but the poem definitely did not deserve the praise it was getting. It was just too… random? Simple?

Wait, Carter thought. He-has-a-cool-and-awesome-car. That's eight syllables!

"Excuse me, Sir," Carter said as he raised his hand. "'He-has-a-cool-and-awesome-car' has eight syllables. It's supposed to be seven, right?"

Mr. Polo hmm-ed suspiciously, like he was going to ignore the comment, but another student murmured on her seat loudly enough for the class to hear.

It was Annie, who was looking intently at their teacher with what Carter would call morbid curiosity.

"I know the hai-koo is awesome as Percy was the one who made it," Annie said, which earned an eye-roll from Carter, "but he likes it so much! It's as if it's something personally gratifying! But of course it's impossible that he's Apollo himself. Oh, why am I even saying this?"

Then she shut her mouth, smiling at everyone as if to say _I'm so cute because I'm so clueless_. Carter had to resist the urge to roll his eyes again.

"That is certainly an interesting point you have there, Ms. Chase. Perhaps you are a _lot_ smarter than you let on," Mr. Polo finally said with a knowing smile and a wink. "But as for your question, Mr. Kane, I found a solution! Let's just remove the 'and,' so that it would be 'He has a cool, awesome car.' What do you say?"

Carter blinked once. He managed to say, "Uh, it's all right, Sir."

"Everything's settled then! Class dismissed!"

The bell rang.

-0-0-0-

"What was with that teacher?" Carter complained when he and Leo were back to the latter's locker to get something he forgot.

"He's pretty cool, man," Leo replied. "Why are you complaining? Most teachers are boring. He's not. That's a good thing."

"Ah, right," Carter said dejectedly. There was one more person he couldn't argue with. Before it was only Sadie, then Zia came, and now Leo. His life was cruel.

"Yup, all right! Let's get to the pool!"

But before they could take one step forward, a deafening sound of metal and porcelain crashing on the floor was heard.

Leo was the first one to regain his senses.

"Go ahead, Carter," he said as he ran towards the direction of the racket. "The pool's that way!"

Carter followed his instructions and did go ahead. But at the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder whether the fire he saw spreading across Leo's fingers was only a trick of the light.

-0-0-0-

Carter discovered that the pools of that school were pretty nice, not that he had many to compare them with. They were still good for him, though.

The whole class was told to be in their uniform swimming attire and so they did. Carter felt awkward wearing his.

"We were going to practice your breaststroke today!" their teacher yelled enthusiastically. "But sadly, we're having an emergency meeting! Which means you prob'ly won't do whatever I'll tell you to do! So I guess you're on your own! Bye!"

Carter couldn't get why everything he said ended in exclamation marks.

"You know how to swim, Carter?" Leo asked beside him.

"Yeah. Not that fast though."

"Same here!" Leo chirped. "Oh, this is good. In our level, we get to stay in that pool where we're all average swimmers. No pressure."

Before Leo could laugh, a riot erupted beside the deepest pool. Carter saw that Frank was glaring at three disoriented guys.

Curiosity got the better of them and they went nearer to the commotion.

"W-We're so sorry!" said somebody from the disoriented side. He had black hair. His two companions were a blonde and a redhead.

"Did you think I'd buy that?" Frank said menacingly. "You'll have to pay, Mr. A."

Carter turned to Leo confusedly. "Mister A?"

Leo grinned. "I gave him the nickname. Can't remember his real name, though."

Carter raised a brow. "So everybody calls him Mr. A now?"

Leo shrugged. "It suits him. The other two are even called Mr. B and Mr. C. They became the Alphabet trio."

Carter snorted in amusement then turned back to Frank and Mr. A.

Whatever happened while they were talking, it was bad. Mr. A's head was in the water, his hair held by Frank.

Frank pulled up Mr. A, who was sputtering, gasping for air.

"I-I won't do it again!" Mr. A stammered out.

Frank was smirking evilly, like he wanted to do something more than just _trying_ to drown the other guy.

"That's enough, Frank," somebody said. Everybody turned to the pool where the voice came from. It was a frowning Percy.

"Are you sure?" Frank asked, sounding like he was hoping for a no.

"Yeah." Percy nodded. His frown did not leave his face.

Carter wondered why he was being so grumpy when he was in such high spirits just the period before. Then he noticed it.

Percy was in the kiddies' pool.

"Doesn't he know how to swim?" he asked Leo.

Leo grinned like a maniac. "Isn't it obvious? Oh, this reminds me of our field trip last year! We were just cruising on a ship Mr. C's mother owns when somebody _accidentally_ pushed Percy off board! No kidding, man, but a shark suddenly swam straight towards Percy and opened its mouth to eat him—unless you're saying it was trying to talk to him. Do you think it was trying to talk to him?"

Carter thought for a second. "Uh, no?"

"Thought so!" Leo's grin occupied almost half of his face. "Who in his _right mind_ would think he can talk to sharks, anyway? So where was I? Oh, right. Everyone panicked! Nobody knew what to do! Just then, another shark arrived, _bigger_ than the first one. It chased the other away and Percy was saved. Everyone thinks he's forever scarred. You're free to think anything, though."

Carter could only look with pity. He could imagine how it felt to be publicly criticized. There were always criticisms with him being made Pharaoh.

Carter shook his head and said, "So where do we go?"

Leo looked around. Carter followed his example and saw that every single pool was full, except for one: Percy's.

Leo laughed nervously. "No swimming then."

"Why not? The kiddies' pool is empty enough."

"You don't want to get in that pool."

"Because Percy's in it?"

"Partially, yes," Leo nodded. "He's already grumpy and you seriously don't want to make him angry. Not when Frank's around. And in school."

Carter raised his brows. "He doesn't have anything against me."

"Fine," Leo sighed. "Go over there if you really want to swim. I'll stay by the benches."

Carter saw Leo walk towards the seats before he himself went towards the kiddies' pool, which was still occupied by Percy. But another figure sat by the edge: the blonde girl, Annie.

He heard her say, "Too bad, babycakes, I'll see you around then."

She stood up, gave a final, terribly sickening sweet smile to Percy, and went away.

Carter knew Percy must be in an even fouler mood, but he figured he should be friendly.

"Hey," he said conversationally as he dipped his feet into the two-feet-deep pool.

Percy glowered at him before saying, "You here to make fun of me too?"

"No!" Carter shook his head. "I just want to take a dip, that's all."

"In _this_ pool?"

Carter looked at the pool. "In this pool," he confirmed. "What's wrong with that?"

Percy looked away, which Carter discovered was a bad thing. Annabeth was right there where Percy turned to. Another bad thing: she was still smiling overly sickly at Percy, like she wanted to overdose him on sugar and give him diabetes.

Carter thought that this kind of flirting was too much.

Percy returned to his previous position: glaring at the water like it was its fault that he couldn't swim.

"Stupid punishment," Carter heard him mutter. "Stupid, _stupid_ wine—"

Suddenly, a can of diet coke rolled over to the pool, and for some reason Carter couldn't fathom, Percy shut up like he was afraid the can might blow up if he said anything wrong.

"Stupid," he said again after some time.

Carter knew it was the smart thing to stay silent.

-0-0-0-

Carter closed his locker just as an unidentified flying object flew in the air, almost hitting him square in the forehead. He ducked just in time, and saw that the UFO was actually a toy airplane made of… scissors?

"Carter!" someone yelled from off the corridor. When he came into view, Carter realized he was getting stupid.

"Of course," Carter sighed. "Who else would be crazy enough to make a flying object made of _scissors_?"

"Did you just say I'm awesome?" Leo said, suddenly beside him.

Carter snorted. "So this is yours, Leo?"

The guy in question smiled widely. "The greatest genius since my brother Archimedes," he exclaimed.

"And since when was that mathematician guy your brother?"

Sadie entered the scene, carrying a Biology book.

"I—uhh, did I say he's my brother?" Leo smiled sheepishly.

"No duh, Mr. President," Carter said sarcastically.

"But I'm pretty sure he _is _my brother," Leo now insisted. "I mean, we're both geniuses. We're cool. He invented the sphere, guys!"

"And our father's the god of the Underworld," Sadie off-handedly said.

"Yeah! And I don't think anybody actually 'invented' the sphere. Archimedes just"—Carter stared at his sister. "Um, Sadie?"

"What?"

"Never mind."

"Hey!" Leo exclaimed. "What did you mean by that?"

"Nothing," Sadie said. "Just drop it off."

Leo pouted. "Harsh."

"She always is," Carter agreed.

"Don't talk about me when I can hear you, seriously," Sadie stated with a roll of eyes.

"There's no rule about that though," Leo muttered. "Now that I think about it, why is it called 'talking behind your back' when we are talking _to_ your back? I mean 'behind your back' is technically in front of you, right? I suppose back in the days—Haha, that pun was unintended, if that was even a pun—so any—"

"Let's go home already," Sadie huffed as she grabbed her brother's hand and dragged him toward the gates.

"Hey, wait!" Leo shouted behind them, but Sadie pretended not to hear him.

-0-0-0-

"You're in a bad mood," Carter declared as he paused in front of Brooklyn House.

Sadie paused too, sighed, and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Duh, Captain Obvious." Then she said loudly, "I'm tired. Let's talk tomorrow."

Carter ignored her. "So what happened at school?" he insisted.

Sadie's eyes flashed dangerously. "I _am_ in a bad mood, Carter."

But the elder Kane was not backing down either. "At least tell me why."

"Fine!" Sadie threw up her hands exasperatedly. "Four words: Adolf Hitler's little brother."

**-0-0-0-**

** (1) - I think the books used Aphrodite as Love herself so I'm sticking to that. Besides, I think it's weird to make Leo say, "Besides, poets used to say that Love is blind. You cannot blame his half-sister." Right? So let's forget Eros (aka Cupid) for the time being.**

**I really think I want to impose that '9001 reviews before I update!' thing. The 9000 is a joke though. And I just want to do it for fun. Hm… Maybe next time... or never...**

**Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me (us) what you think through a review. You can even flame me or whatever. I don't care.**

**Coming next: **Chapter II: Adolf Hitler's Little Brother

~Bianca

**p.s. Whoever can guess what this fic's title would have been will have my special cyber cookie and whatever s/he'd want from me. (Nothing too much though and just something I can legally do here in ffn.) (And NO, YOU, my dear friend, can't participate because you're a co-author. sort of. you know who you are~) The clue is it has something to do with 'Torture' and if you're asking, this is just for fun. I'm bored lately. 'Til next time~**


	4. Adolf Hitler's Little Brother

**Warning and Disclaimer: Um, I'm running out of things to say. Just the usual OOCness, I guess. I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Kane Chronicles. Wish I did, but it wouldn't be as awesome as it is. Let's just thank Rick Riordan. **

**-0-0-0-**

**Chapter II: Adolf Hitler's Little Brother**

Sadie put on a smile on her face as she settled on her seat. Her day was just _so _great! First, she had to go to this school with her brother (of all the people!) and not with Walt! Second, she met this _awesome_ chap who she thought was thinking she's some sort of complicated Rubik's cube he could just hand over to somebody else to solve. Simply amazing! Third, the 'somebody else' was a money-hungry girl who declared that she should pay her for walking her to their homeroom. Terrific, right?

Anubis's gorgeous eyes, she thought, who am I kidding?

She resigned to staring impassively at the window to the left of her seat. It was a sunny day, lots of clouds, lots of birds. There were no people on the grounds as far as she could see. She noticed that there were a lot of pigeons flying around too, which made her wonder whether Horus was possessing any of them like what he did in one of Carter's memory. Maybe the gods realized they just can't do a thing without them lovely magicians.

Then a balled piece of paper hit her in the head.

Killjoy, she thought as she turned her head to glare at Nico, the biggest brat she ever came across with. He was more childish, more selfish than all the ankle-biters put together, which, of course, spelled disaster to her brain.

Nico flashed an innocent smile at her, complete with a wave of his hand. Sadie groaned inwardly, but she smiled back at him nonetheless. The kid was pitiable.

Then she noticed him pointing at the balled-up paper and mouthing what could be "Kill it," for all she knew.

But that's just silly, Sadie thought. Though he _is_ a bit silly…

Sadie shrugged, unrolled the paper and read it.

"You smell fishy," it said.

Sadie almost face-faulted.

Nico _is_ just like Felix, she decided. What with the stupid and immature comments, they could be twins for all I knew!

Sadie turned around, rested her arm on the back of her chair, and told Nico, who was sitting beside the guy behind her, "You sound like one of my distant cousins."

Nico's brows scrunched up in innocent confusion. "Really?" he asked. "On which side?"

Sadie thought for a second. "Both," she finally said. "Mum and Dad are sort of distant cousins too, now that I think about it. I and Carter are, too… Ha, that's funny."

Nico frowned. "Siblings and cousins at the same time, huh," he mused. "Well, I guess that's not so far behind with having Adolf Hitler as a half-brother."

Sadie's elbow slipped and her hand noisily slapped her chair.

"What?" she asked suspiciously. "How could you have him as a half-brother? He's born, like, a century ago."

"Ms. Kane!" yelled their Math teacher, Ms. Cosain, who was an old woman. "Just because you're new doesn't mean a special treatment for you. Answer this problem." She pointed at the board.

"Great," Sadie mumbled and glared at Nico sideways. The said boy was still smiling; playing safe, she presumed. Of course, because it was just not his fault!

Sadie blurted out the most complicated quadratic formula (was that what it's called?) she could think of. Ms. Cosain clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"Please refrain from talking during my class," she said, and then went back to drawling off about their lesson. Sadie couldn't care less. It was her first day, seriously.

She turned back to Nico.

"_What_ was that again, brat?" she whispered harshly. "Adolf Hitler's your half-brother? Are you delusional?"

Nico beamed widely. "Technically, he's my brother. He's my father's alter ego's son. He's older than I am by three decades or so, I think."

Sadie sighed and silently asked herself why she even bothered to entertain such an obviously pointless topic. Did she look like someone a kid could fool with a talk of Adolf Hitler as a close relative? If she were to say anything, no.

She ignored Nico for the rest of the morning, and thankfully, Nico had not bothered her too.

It happened after the bell rang for lunch, dismissing them, when Sadie stepped outside their classroom. She felt a poke right above where her right shoulder blade should be. She turned to see who did it, and an innocently smiling Nico met her gaze. Suddenly, Nico's smile faded and was replaced by a serious face.

"Do you like hanging out in cemeteries?"

Sadie wanted to face-palm herself for Nico's out of the blue questions, but she restrained herself and said instead, "Let's just say they're my boyfriend's territory. Why do you ask?"

She saw him smirk in a way that made her say he was pleased with the answer.

"Well," he said with another smile and his hands at the back of his head, "no wonder you could put up with me. See you later, Sadie!"

Sadie blinked a few times and Nico was gone, lost in the crowd of students milling around for the cafeteria. She shrugged and went to meet with her brother and their new friend.

-0-0-0-

Sadie grumbled under her breath as she walked to her classroom, arms folded over her chest. She hated History as much as she hated memorizing important Ancient Egypt dates or magical words. So what if the late president Abraham Lincoln signed something that sounded torture to her ears? It's not like she needed to know that to buy herself a pizza.

A familiar voice broke her reverie.

"SADIE!" it said. Sadie mentally groaned.

Just then, Nico materialized in front of her. Well, not literally, but more or so he just jumped into sight. The brat.

"Uh, hi, Nico," she replied awkwardly, still walking towards their classroom. "Did you, uh, eat properly? You do look a bit on the skinny side."

Nico beamed. "Yup. My brother's mom made a _lot_ of cookies for me last week. There's still five more dozen to go."

Sadie tilted her head in confusion. "Your… brother's mum? You talk like she's not your mother."

"Of course!" Nico took out a blue biscuit out of his pocket and grinned again. "I'm adopted!"

Sadie blinked. "Um, that's not usually confessed with such a happy atmosphere. Are you sure you're okay, Nico?"

Nico nodded as he munched on the biscuit—or cookie, whatever. "I've always known. I mean, I still remember my real family, you know. How could I not know I'm adopted?"

"Oh, I see. But you like your brother now."

"Sure," he replied with a mouthful of another cookie. "I hated him once. Then he hated me too when I betrayed him into the hands of my father, who is... a _crime syndicate mastermind_. But we're cool now."

Crime syndicate mastermind, Sadie repeated in her head.

"Ah, right. So, there's the classroom."

They walked a few steps silently until Nico spoke up.

"Sadie? Do you mind if I sit beside you?"

"But our seats are close enough already."

"Well, I kinda like your company and it would be nice if I can talk to you more… _inconspicuously_. Do you want a teacher calling you again?"

"Good point." Sadie finally agreed.

-0-0-0-

Sadie thought she might just start making up Ancient Egyptian curses out of the world's dullness. It turned out that their History teacher was yet to come back from his business trip overseas. With how things were going, they wouldn't be having any History classes for a week, which meant free time. And free time meant both fun time and boredom time. The hour was tilting to the latter side.

Nico beside her was busy making random origami, which in her opinion were pretty much disfigured.

She decided to start a conversation.

"Hey, Nico, what do you—"

Then all of a sudden, the tree, which was peacefully standing outside the building until then, crashed itself into their room (which was on the second floor), its biggest and leafiest branch breaking the windows and scratching the unfortunately seated students. Luckily for Sadie, the branch missed her and Nico by a foot.

"OH NO!" a voice screamed, which Sadie later recognized was Hazel's. "Did those bastards discover the treasure chest I buried under that tree? No way! My precious gold! My precious money!" Sadie turned to Hazel and saw her storm out the room after giving Nico a look. Sadie returned her gaze to the kid beside her, who seemed like he was making a decision.

"Nico?"

"I'm going to follow her."

"Nico, wait!"

And then the bell rang.

Being the persistent fellow she was, Sadie chased after Nico, but she lost him after a turn.

"Just where is he?"

Then she heard the distant sound of something crashing on the floor. She followed the direction of the sound, which took her a few minutes since she really didn't know the way around the school. When she got there, Hazel, Nico and, much to her shock, Leo were sitting cross-legged on the floor like they were just having a picnic surrounded by the relics of the Home Economics Room.

Leo grinned widely at her, albeit sheepishly.

"Yo, Sadie!" he said. "Want to have a cup of tea?" In his hand he held a miraculously unscathed cup and a broken-in-half saucer.

"That's just a cup, though."

"But it's a cup for tea, right?"

Sadie rolled her eyes just as Hazel sighed audibly and took her leave. Nico beamed like an infant with a toy.

"Too bad you're late, Sadie! The fun here is over." Nico said as he stood up, patting dust off of his black pants.

Leo mimicked Nico's actions and excused himself, saying that he still had to go to their swimming class, and he went off.

Sadie stared at the smashed-in cabinets, the leaking water pipes and faucets, the several tables overturned with several legs snapped to splinters. One-half of her mind wondered who'd be charged for the destruction of school property. The other half doubted whether the three were really only having fun or whether they were trying to cook up the most dangerous dessert ever. Or maybe both. They were all lunatics.

"Staring at them won't do you any good, you know!" Nico was by the door then. "It's not like you can say magic words and then they'd all return to normal, right? Or can you?"

"Oh, of course I can!" Sadie said sarcastically even though it was true. They were in a mission after all. Can't go revealing to anyone that they were magicians now, can they?

She grabbed Nico by the wrist and dragged him to the direction of the stairs.

Suddenly, Nico apparently had an astonishing realization.

"We still have Biology!" he exclaimed.

"And you just remembered?" Sadie shook her head disappointedly. "You old, Nico?"

"Heh." Nico smiled dryly. "I did tell you Adolf Hitler—"

"Bah! Whatever."

The two entered the room. Luckily, the teacher was nowhere in sight. Unluckily, Nico slipped near a skeleton somebody set up beside the door.

Nico fell on the floor with a soft thud. He looked back at the skeleton's skull, which made it hard for Sadie to read his expression, but she thought she heard a "Thank you." But then again, why would Nico thank a skeleton?

She waved the thought off because a man, who looked like he could be a teacher, entered into their room.

Sadie went to her seat and Nico still claimed the chair beside hers. The teacher droned on about the different kinds of bacteria and fungi and random whatnot, but Sadie couldn't care less. After what seemed like hours, Nico poked her in the ribs with his pen. Sadie slapped it away.

"What is it again?" she snapped.

Nico gave her another of his childish grins. "Want to play a game?"

Sadie glanced at the monotone teacher and back at her sort-of friend. "Sure. Nothing better to do anyway."

Nico rubbed his hands in anticipation. "I want to play pranks. Or games."

Sadie smirked. "Wonderful. Just when I'm starting to think that this school is boring." She leaned in just a bit closer to Nico. "So what's the plan?"

He shrugged. "There's no plan."

"Ugh." Sadie shook her head in dismay. "Why do I even bother?"

"Then how about we play a simple truth or dare first?"

Sadie contemplated for a few moments. "Okay. I can live with that."

"Rock paper scissors?"

Sadie nodded and they threw in their hands. Sadie's hand formed paper while Nico did a scissors, which meant that she lost.

"Ha! I won." Nico gloated. "Anyway, truth or dare?"

"Bloody baboons." Sadie breathed in deeply. "I'll take a dare."

Nico appeared to be pleased, then hummed, maybe thinking about making her sing the alphabet in the tune of a Nicki Minaj song, or making her do a cowboy dance in the middle of the city armed with a ketchup and a broom.

"Promise me you'll accept it no matter what," Nico said at last. Sadie noticed the evil smirk.

Sadie braced herself. She was no coward.

"I promise."

"Then pretend to be my girlfriend."

-0-0-0-

And _that_ was the reason why Sadie was notin the mood to go along with anybody's antics when she and her brother got home to Brooklyn House.

"Hey, Carter, Sadie, look!" Felix yelled, a penguin following his footsteps. "George and Alicia have a kid—umm, I don't really know what to call baby penguins, but I'll just call it kid. But she's so cute, right? I just named her Carie, in honor of Carter and Sadie! It's great, huh?"

Sadie barely heard Carter saying something like, "Yeah, that's nice, Felix. But you shouldn't let your penguins breed in here. It might be against a law in Penguin Constitution of 1953 BC or something."

Or Shelby screaming bloody murder at her fellow ankle-biters with a drawing of a hammerhead shark.

Or Zia telling her to have some fairy cakes.

She was _not_ having any of anything.

Then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you all right, Sadie?"

She didn't need to turn around to know it was Walt.

She thought for a while. Yes, she did have a really rotten day, courtesy of a certain brat, who at first was only trying to annoy her. She could get used to that. Then the little horror dared her to be his pretend-girlfriend. She was many things, but she wasn't plastic. Plus, she had a real boyfriend, a real and _awesome_ part god boyfriend. She wasn't going to exchange him over anyone, especially if he was a mini monster by the name of Nico di Angelo.

"Not _that_ all right," she finally said. She turned around to meet his tender brown eyes. "My day sucked."

He smiled warmly, which actually did warm Sadie to her toes.

"Not anymore," he told her and led her to the empty kitchen.

"So what are we supposed to do here?" Sadie plopped on a chair. Walt took another and sat beside her.

"Tell me about it." Walt placed his hands behind his head and relaxed. He looked at Sadie from the corner of his eyes. "Your day, I mean."

Sadie groaned. "It's bloody rotten. Simple as that."

"Really?" He laughed lightly. "I thought it would take more than a simple thing to make a Kane's day rotten. After all, the latest could-have-been apocalypse was just one of your bad days."

Sadie smiled at that. Walt really knew how to cheer her up.

"Funny, Walt," she said. "But since you're so insistent, I'll tell you about it."

Then she added, "Don't blame me if I'll have to have a mini boyfriend, 'kay?"

Before Walt could react, she began telling her story.

-0-0-0-

The good thing for her: Walt was a good listener. Another thing: he didn't react violently about the news of Nico's dare. He actually laughed at that part.

"What's so funny?" Sadie punched him lightly on the shoulder. "I don't get the funny part about getting dared to be someone's girlfriend just for his idea of fun and his reputation. Maybe Piper's in the equation, but still!"

"It's because I trust you, Sadie," Walt said, which made her blush a bit—scratch that, she became a human tomato. Then Walt added, "Besides, you're cute when you're angry."

Sadie dramatically groaned and buried her overripe tomato-colored face under her hands.

"Oh, she's blushing!"

"Y-You don't have to tease me!"

"So you really _are_ blushing." Walt laughed then proceeded to tickle her.

"Gods of Egy—"

Sadie fell of her chair laughing, but Walt didn't stop amusing himself. Sadie didn't notice when, but they ended up in a rather awkward position when two ankle-biters entered the kitchen, asking for milk.

"Um," one of them said as she pointed at the carton of milk on the table near the two lovers. "Milk?"

Walt smiled one last time at her, before he got the milk and the glasses for the two kids.

Sadie got up from the floor (yes, the awkward position was that Walt was on top of her) and acted as if she was just properly aligning the chairs.

She felt Walt's arms around her; he was hugging her from behind.

"So you're a woman of your words, right?"

"I wish I wasn't."

"Come on, Sadie. It'll only be acting, right? You're good at that."

Sadie turned around to look him in the eyes.

"So you're giving me permission?"

"As long as you'll always be mine."

They were both leaning in for a kiss when Felix burst into the room, shouting, "Crazy bananas!"

-0-0-0-

**I think I've made it pretty clear that I'm not shipping NicoxSadie or Sadico or whatever their pairing's called. I'll be sticking ****_mostly_**** to canon pairings so yeah. This will play a role later on, but I guess for the meantime it's for my idea of fun and torturing Sadie and Nico. Believe me. Nico didn't do it because he's interested in her in the romantic way. Oh well, you'll find out later on. **

**I'll also apologize for the slow pace this story is taking. The next chapter happens on the same day as this chapter and the first.**

**Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Please let us know what you think via review. Reviews are nice. CCs too. So are follows. I personally like flames too.**

**Anyway, have a good day. ^_^**

**Coming next: **Chapter III: Taking Translations to the Aphrodite Kid Level

~Bianca


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